Question by haha1000: Ever since I came clean to my doctors about my drug addiction, they don’t want to treat my pain?
I am in such a bind. I was prescribed Percocet and developed an addiction to them. I also started to abuse other hard core drugs but I have been in recovery since December 2009. When I was in pain I had to go through the run around with my primary care physician and my nuerlogist to get treated. They wouldn’t even give me nerve blocking medications. I feel like I am worthless and if the pain comes back I am never going to be treated and Im going to be left to suffer. I am lucky now because I am on Suboxone which is a narcotic and helps with the back pain as well as Topomax but that is prescribed by my phsyciatrist. I am scared that one day i’ll be taken off of those medications and I’ll forever be in back pain.
What should I do? Should I try to see a pain management doctor? If I see a pain mananagment doctor will my physciatrst get mad and drop me? Will my regular doctor get mad and drop me? I don’t want to be in pain forever.
Just because I’m a recovering addict doesn’t mean I should be allowed to suffer. Aren’t there pain mgt doctors that specialise in this. I am NOT looking for a high. At this point I am NOT looking for a narcotic.
Best answer:
Answer by clamdirt4
My experiance has been that a nurse won’t even see you if your a drug addict..and in a group therapy environment..
..your saying..drug addict..like your “catching a bus”..
You are NOT allowed to mix..prescriptions..with even alcohol..
So…what’s the big question..
??
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it would be nice of you to tell them you’re consulting someone else too. plus the new doc will want to see your records. I know sometimes pain docs give medicine in their offices. I don’t know enough about things to know what qualifies someone for this, but docs have to be very wary of addicts, just how it is, so maybe they’d actually feel better if you went to a pain doc and atleast checked out the possibility of getting dosed in-office. And then you don’t have to worry about your own self-control and potential for relapse.
oh my God…Of course you’re not currently looking for a narcotic. You are on one of the most powerful ones there is already.
And you are worried about something that you don’t need to worry about….to the point of being neurotic about it.
you have major drug seeking issues and I see you on here every other week asking these same questions. It’s quite ridiculous.
You do not need to worry. IF you ever need legitimate pain control, you will get it. What you do need to worry about is getting clean and off narcotics, and that way of you ever need pain control they can give it to you and it will actually work.
If you were to get injured now while on suboxone, you’d be SOL
Any psychiatrist you has you on suboxone for any extended period of time is NOT helping you.
Before you can ever get off any pain killers you have to get rid of what pain it is you are having and it’s possible to do that. Pain in your back is caused by pinched muscles there and it’s important to get those muscles freed up again or you are going to end up with disc problems and pains that will plague you the rest of your life for it’s the back pains, the pinched muscles pulling the vertebrae closer together that ruptures them, slips them and bulges them. Here’s how to free up those muscles to get pain free by releasing the muscles in your back:
Back:
(do from a sitting position)
Place your left hand on your left leg next to your body. Place your right hand over your left shoulder, fingers over the back and the palm in the front and firmly press on them and hold. After 30 seconds slowly lower your body forward and to the outside of your left leg, keeping your left arm fairly straight as you do. When you reach your lap remain there for another 10 seconds, release the pressure but rest there for another 30 seconds. Then reverse your hand positions and do your right side.
For best results relax your body first by taking a deep breath and exhaling then remain this relaxed.
Your only a drug addict for as long as you choose to be one. Don’t buy into that “drug addict for life’ nonsense.
Suboxone is NOT helping you. It might be helping you stay off the streets getting drugs, but it IS making your addiction worse, not better.
That should be your primary focus…tapering down the suboxone and eventually getting off of it, and dealing with your pain in other more healthy ways.
Edited to comment on badfish’s post. I was an addict, and i have been prescribed pain meds after surgery since I got clean, and guess what? I took them exactly as prescribed, and didn’t abuse them….all on my own without any monitoring. One thing I learned from being an opiate addict is respect for opiates. If you don’t abuse them, they work well and they aren’t hard to stop using. Not everyone is so weak that they can’t control their actions, and not everyone buys into that 12 step garbage…which incidentally, 12 step programs have about a 1% success rate, which is less than no program at all.
Peopoe who are still on Suboxone shouldn’t be giving advice about how to get off drugs….they should get their own addicted butts clean first, and then their advice might be worth something more than the ink it wastes.
No offense intended, because I myself am a recovering addict, and have dealt with serious pain issues as well, so like I said don’t take this the wrong way but you sound like an addict trying to rationalize why you should be given narcotics. The fact is that you are an addict, and you will be for life. Even if you found someone to prescribe you pills, do you honestly think you wouldn’t abuse them? Cause I know you would, any addict would, no matter how much pain you’re in. What you need to do is quit obsessing on “what if” and focus on finding a way to manage your pain without opiates.
I personal would record the level of pain you have and when you have to take a store med for a week, then go to your doctor and show them what you are having to do, ask to maybe get some pills to last you a week or three days. I know it sounds like nothing but this is about regaining the trust you have with your doctor so they will stop thinking that you are just making things up just to get the drugs. Just a thought.
I have been on Suboxone for 5 years. It is not likely that your psych. doc will drop you “in general” unless the goal is to become “completely sober”. If the Suboxone is working for you, I would defiantly stay away from the pain management doctor, your psych Dr. will drop you. Plus it is pointless to be on Suboxone and pain medication at the same time any ways, it almost cancels the narcotic out, making oxycontin feel no stronger than an extra strength Tylenol.
You made a huge mistake by telling your primary care physician. Now it’s likely they wont even prescribe cough medicine with Codeine if you have a bad cough when being sick.
Unfortunately, I have never heard of a doctor that deals with prescribing pain medication once you have admitted to an addiction to opiates. There should be. I think your going to have to make a decision.
You can a) ask your doctor to go up on your Suboxone, so it can help more with the pain.
b) Find a new primary care doctor and pain specialist and see how long you can keep it from your psych. doc. c) Stop the Suboxone and try the impossible task of managing your narcotics.
There is really no right way of doing this. It all comes down to decisions, is the pain worse or the addiction.